Two-day fossil extravaganza to offer one-of-a-kind displays, experiences
Triceratops stands tall inside the museum’s newest special exhibit, The Age of Dinosaurs, which visitors can experience during this year’s Dino Festival. Triceratops will be one of many life-size skeletons visitors will see at this year’s event.
A two-day fossil extravaganza is set to take place at the Virginia Museum of Natural History (VMNH) in Martinsville, when the museum hosts Dino Festival on Friday, July 25 and Saturday, July 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Featuring a trove of fossils from the museum’s scientific collections, new and interactive science stations hosted by museum researchers, life-size displays of some of the most iconic creatures from the ancient past, animatronic dinosaurs, access to the museum’s newest special exhibit The Age of Dinosaurs, and a wide variety of dinosaur-themed activities and crafts, the museum’s annual Dino Festival is designed to give visitors the opportunity to experience a time when Earth was very different than it is today and inhabited by unique and extraordinary life.
“A prehistoric adventure awaits everyone who visits the museum on July 25 and 26,” said Robbie Hendrix-Wirt, VMNH Visitor Services and Events Manager. “From the instant visitors step foot on museum grounds, they’ll be transported to a time when our planet was inhabited by amazing creatures long since extinct.”
One such creature was Torvosaurus, a large, carnivorous dinosaur from the Jurassic of Wyoming, whose rare fossil remains will make their Dino Festival debut this year.
“The museum’s paleontology team is eager to offer visitors new and unique experiences during this year’s edition of Dino Festival,” said Dr. Adam Pritchard, VMNH Associate Curator of Paleontology, who is currently in the midst of a weeks-long dinosaur fossil dig in Wyoming. “Among this year’s new additions will be the Meat-eater Station, where museum researchers are ready to show-off the incredibly rare fossils of Torvosaurus, the remains of which we have never placed on public exhibit.”
Sticking with new additions, the museum will also introduce the Fossil Prep Station during this year’s event, providing attendees with the opportunity to watch close-up as a museum scientist prepares a field jacket filled with dinosaur fossils, while describing the fossil preparation process and fielding questions from visitors about life in the ancient past.
“What really separates Dino Festival from so many other dinosaur-themed events is our ability to provide the power of real to our visitors,” said Hendrix-Wirt. “From unveiling fossils that haven’t been seen since they were excavated from the earth by museum researchers, to the exhibition of the only known fossil evidence that Triceratops survived a brutal battle with Tyrannosaurus rex, visitors will not only be presented with an incredible array of real fossils, but they’ll also be able to interact directly with museum experts who are eager to share riveting stories about the specimens on display.”
VMNH Associate Curator of Paleontology Dr. Adam Pritchard readies a fossil for a field jacket (protective casing) during fieldwork in Wyoming. Visitors to this year’s Dino Festival will have the opportunity to watch a museum scientist open a field jacket and prepare the fossils within. Full size image
This year’s festival also marks the VMNH debut of a full-size, adult mammoth skeleton comprised of approximately 50 percent fossilized bone. The specimen will highlight a new section of the festival that explores the life that came after the dinosaurs.
“After the Dinosaurs is being introduced this year to give visitors a look into how mammals filled the empty spaces in the ecosystems left by the extinction of dinosaurs,” said Bethany Fisher, Museum Experiences Manager. “The debut of the mammoth skeleton will draw a great deal of attention, but it will also be accompanied by experts exhibiting other fascinating specimens from the museum’s collections.”
This year’s edition of Dino Festival is also set to offer attendees new, hands-on experiences.
“It’s exciting to watch scientists work with incredible fossils and listen to them share their knowledge of the specimens, but it can be just as fun working with fossils yourself,” said Hendrix-Wirt. “One of this year’s new offerings is Reptile Jaw Microscopy, where attendees can examine the jaws of ancient lizard-like reptiles under museum microscopes and match the jaws to their owners from over 200 million years ago. It’s fun, educational, and the type of activity you’ll be hard pressed to find elsewhere.”
Many other hands-on elements will be featured throughout the festival, including the dino dig pit, which will be found inside the museum’s newest special exhibit, The Age of Dinosaurs.
“Visitors to Dino Festival will have access to all of the museum’s galleries, including The Age of Dinosaurs special exhibit,” said Hendrix-Wirt. “Here, visitors will find everything from fossilized dinosaur skin and footprints to animatronic dinosaur displays and the dino dig pit, which is designed to replicate an actual field site that museum scientists excavate every summer in Wyoming.”
Of course, no Dino Festival would be complete without an impressive lineup of life-size cast skeletons and skulls of not just dinosaurs, but other ancient life, some of which lived long before the first dinosaurs.
“Visitors will be met by a variety of life-size displays, many of which have accompanying fossil specimens that can be found on exhibit throughout the museum,” said Fisher. “For instance, visitors will not only be able to view a full-size Triceratops skeleton, but they’ll also have access to the incredibly well preserved fossil remains of a massive Triceratops skull, which will be presented to visitors as they were discovered in the field.”
Other life-size skeletons and skulls to be featured during this year’s Dino Festival include:
- Stegosaurus
A large, plant-eating dinosaur – distinguishable by two rows of bony plates on its back – that lived during the Late Jurassic period, from approximately 155 to 150 million years ago - Acrocanthosaurus
A massive, carnivorous theropod dinosaur that existed in what is now North America during the Early Cretaceous period, from approximately 125 million to 100 million years ago - Allosaurus
A large, carnivorous theropod dinosaur of the Late Jurassic period, from approximately 155 to 150 million years ago - Eoraptor
A deer-sized, carnivorous, theropod dinosaur and one of the earliest known of the dinosaurs - Platecarpus tympaniticus
A massive sea-going reptile that lived 84 to 81 million years ago during the Cretaceous period - Tyrannosaurus rex
One of the most iconic dinosaurs of all time, T. rex was a large carnivorous dinosaur that lived in what is now western North America approximately 68 to 66 million years ago - Dromaeosaurus
A medium-sized carnivorous dinosaur – and a very close relative of the famous Velociraptor – that lived in what is now the western United States and Alberta, Canada during the Late Cretaceous, from approximately 77 to 74 million years ago - Albertosaurus
A genus of tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaurs that lived in what is now western North America during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 70 million years ago - Edmontosaurus
A genus of duck-billed dinosaur that lived in what is now western North America during the Cretaceous Period, from approximately 73 to 66 million years ago - Dunkleosteus
An armored fish from a group of fish called placoderms that lived approximately 380 to 360 million years ago - Tylosaurus
A gigantic, sea-going relative of lizards, and one of the biggest ocean predators to have ever lived
The museum’s Harvest Foundation Hall of Ancient Life will be teeming with life-size skeletons once again during this year’s Dino Festival. Full size image
While paleontologists will take center stage at Dino Festival, they won’t be the only experts mingling with visitors during the event. Dino Festival will also feature special guests from Virginia Tech’s Museum of Geosciences and the Danville Science Center, as well as museum researchers who are experts in other scientific disciplines, such as invertebrate zoology (insects and bugs) and ornithology (birds). These researchers will be on-hand to show-off specimens from the museum’s collections, including some live specimens, and to show visitors how different areas of scientific study often intertwine.
“The museum conducts world-class research every day and Dino Festival is a great venue for highlighting the variety of research taking place,” said Hendrix-Wirt. “While insects might not be the first thing that pops into mind at an event focused on ancient life, they have actually been around for hundreds of millions of years and even pre-date dinosaurs.”
Dino Festival attendees will also have access to many traditional festival offerings, including face painting, balloon animals, children’s activities and crafts, as well as the Dino Fest Photo Booth, all of which are included in the price of festival admission. The Museum Store will be open for business both days of the event, offering a large variety of dinosaur-themed merchandise and souvenirs for sale.
Additionally, the event will offer the Dino Fest Food Truck Alley, where attendees can purchase an assortment of lunch and snacks items during their visit. Vendors scheduled to be on-site include:
• Bahama Sno-Shack
• Birrieria La Vaca
• Chick-fil-A
• Factory Roast
• Jen’s Cakes with Personality
• Kona Ice
• MalloyDogz
• Palumbo’s Hoagie House
Costumed dinosaurs kept the festivities going at last year’s Dino Festival.
“We want visitors to come to Dino Festival for an exciting adventure and we want them to leave with a memory they’ll keep for years to come,” said Hendrix-Wirt. “We think this year’s edition will provide attendees with just that.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Dr. Pritchard.
“We’re especially looking forward to presenting visitors with new experiences, highlighted by incredible specimens that we’ve never exhibited before,” said Pritchard. “From the Meat-eater Station and the rare fossil remains of Torvosaurus, to the Fossil Prep Station, where visitors will literally be the first people ever to see that particular dinosaur fossil emerged from the ground, to the Reptile Microscopy Station and the tiny reptile jaws showing how reptiles big and small were utterly strange during the Age of Dinosaurs, this year’s edition of Dino Festival is ready to offer visitors a one-of-a-kind experience.”
Dino Festival takes place at the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville on Friday, July 25 and Saturday, July 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.
Admission to the festival is $15 for adults ages 18-59 and $10 for ages 3-17, seniors 60+, and college students. Admission is free for children under 3, museum members, and members of museums and science centers that participate in the ASTC Passport program. Visitors who attend the first day of the festival will be allowed to experience the event again on the second day at no additional charge.
The museum also participates in Museums for All, an initiative of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and administered by the Association of Children’s Museums, offering discounted admission to EBT cardholders and their immediate family members. Through this program and additional funding provided by Hooker Furnishings, Carter Bank, and Community Foundation Serving Western Virginia, visitors who present their EBT card and accompanying ID at the admissions gate will receive free festival admission. Free admission is available to EBT cardholders from any state and up to 5 immediate family members living within the same household as the cardholder.
Dino Festival is sponsored by Atlantic Union Bank, Bassett Furniture Industries, Boxley Materials Company, Carter Bank, Community Foundation Serving Western Virginia, Hooker Furnishings, and The Helen S. & Charles G. Patterson, Jr. Charitable Foundation Trust.
For more information about the festival, visit www.vmnh.net/events/dino-festival.
